West Somerset Railway General Discussion

I can't help thinking that service would benefit from a "less is more" approach. (It seems to be a WSR dining thing that they seem to feel the need to keep feeding you all the time the train is running - and it is running for a looooonnnng time ...)

So you get a 40 mile round trip, fish and chips and a cream tea for £42.50 each, based on two people sharing. You leave at 12:35, so I guess you get back to Minehead somewhere in the late afternoon.

How about offering two services? A Minehad - Williton and return Fish and Chips at lunchtime; then when it gets back mid afternoon, the same train hauls a new set of passengers on a Minehad - Williton and return cream tea service? Same loco mileage, same carriage mileage, same food, same crew duty length so basically the same cost to deliver the service - but you get two bites at the cherry for fares. You could do each for £25 return but make £50 per seat per day, rather than £42.50 per seat per day with the same costs.

The advantage is higher gross income per seat-mile, without in my view fundamentally diminishing the attractiveness of the service. Both sets of passengers get their meal and get their steam train ride. There comes a point where the additional duration doesn't actually add much to the attractiveness on offer; and if I've just eaten fish and chips for lunch, I'm not sure I'd be up for cream tea almost immediately after with no time to stretch legs in between.

The line runs from Minehead to Bishops Lydeard(*), but that doesn't automatically mean that every train has to run over the full line.

(*) Current Seaward Way caveat accepted, before anyone says "oh no it doesn't".

Tom

 

accents in Zumerzet??. Adge can teach ee a vew!!

 

I would agree. After any sort of half-decent 'fish and chips' lunch the last thing that I want - or would have stomach room for - is a cream tea as well later in the afternoon, however scrumptious it might be.

 

We usually stop for ice cream on the way back on our evening Fish and Chip trains which usually goes down well, I agree, a cream tea on top does seem a bit too much.

 

The specials are, however, all sold out, despite the lack of proofreading.

Given the popularity of the service, that would seem a no-brainer.

 

I still would of thought it would have been good practice/professional or similar to turn up, so those in the room or online can ask you questions about what you can bring to the table, and participate in discussions so people can get to know you, even if the votes in the room or online were never going to make a major difference to whether you were voted in or not.

Still, if a potential trustee was not to turn up to the AGM of a railway related charity, I would rather it be for unforseen circumstances (or rather not depending on the circumstance), or be out carrying work for said charity or railway. Shows your intent much better than not bothering to turn up and going on a personal jolly to a beer festival, for example.

 

Perhaps just a waaaaafer-thin mint......?

 

...but after 2000 hours...

 

I've now got a copy of the WSR plc accounts to 31st March 2021.

Makes interesting reading - took me 1 hour 30 minutes to digest.

 

Well, if you are going to challenge the "all the way to the end" mindset....How about an early turn with a breakfast? Tip the customers out at Blue Anchor or Washford so we can waddle back to Minehead whilst the train runs down to BL to form the first proper train of the day.

 

Where did you manage to get them?

 

Julian I do wish you would stop telling us about documents in your possession that others cannot get or at least not for some time. It comes across as saying "I know stuff and you don't" It's unnecessary.

 

It's not difficult, secret or clever to get hold of them. Accounts have been posted out to all shareholders as part of the shareholders pack for the AGM.
Ian C

 

So they will be in the public domain shortly but in the meanwhile what did you deduce from them

 

So because other lines don't give decent details, means that no-one should be expected to???
They're not competing with other heritage railways for this type of product, they're competing with other local food venues.

Here's the menu descriptions from my local pubs;

HADDOCK & CHIPS
Hand battered in pale ale, served with seasoned chips, mushy peas, chunky tartare sauce and fresh lemon.

BEER BATTERED FISH & CHIPS
CRUSHED PEAS, TARTARE SAUCE, ROASTED LEMON, TRIPLE COOKED CHIPS

or there's the one from the recommended pub in Bishops Lydeard https://www.thelethbridgearms.co.uk/Menu.php

​

Cream Tea - you've copied a menu description that tells you what it is, & is using the 'homemade/handmade' to sell it. Also tells you what drinks are included.

If I google 'railway cream tea', one of the results is this; https://eastsomersetrailway.com/experiences/cream-tea
Note how they use local products as a selling point, that they aren't going on about t&c's before you get to the product, that they're not mentioning stuff you can't book...


Nothing to say about the rest of my post?


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Others have a good point about the 2 servings of food on one service.
Looks like you get about 2 hours in Minehead between your fish & chips & then a cream tea.
(I should point out that I went on the Shakespeare Express a few weeks ago, & that gives you 5hours between breakfast & afternoon tea)


There's something odd with the pricing of the WSR food services as well.

Fish & chips + cream tea is £85 for 2
Cheese & cider + cream tea is £42.50 each (so same price for 2)
Surely the second is/should be cheaper to provide, so could be sold for less. When you compare them, it looks bad value for money.

I note the ESR are doing a Cream Tea (including a day rover) for £21. (Day Rover is £11, so £10 for the Cream Tea. A look at other railways & £10 is the going price for the Cream Tea bit)
A Sparkling Afternoon Tea is £31, which again makes the WSR cheese one look bad value for money.

GWSR do a fish & chip service for £24. A Toddington-Cheltenham return ticket is £16, so the meal is £8.

(Yes, I know the line lengths are different, but that's not what's being sold)

So, a quick bit of maths;
F&C per person is £43
-10 for the Cream Tea = £33
-25 for the train ticket = £8 for the meal

C&C £43
-10 for the Cream Tea = £33
-25 for the train ticket = £8 for a cider & some cheese (!)



Suggestions time;
I would split the 'catering' products into 3; Fish & Chips, Cream Tea, Cheese & Cider.

WSR need to look at their ticket prices. £25 for a return trip is what others are charging for a Day Rover.
(It's making not just the trip, but the catering services expensive. It would make a cream tea £35 per head!)

 

My 'pet hate' is eating establishments (mostly pubs, sometimes cafes) who have a range of options, but only list one on the menu. For example, they quote (say) "Fish, chips and mushy peas" without saying that you could also have 'garden peas' or 'mixed salad' as an alternative if you wished.

If an item is NOT listed on a menu, then IMHO it seems fair to assume that it is not offered, so if I don't see what I want listed then I don't go there and they lose a customer.

 

If the GWSR can do it for £24, Of which £16 is train fare, then clearly unless its a high class offering , ie Pullman coaches, served on silver platters, with fine wines, ports etc, how can the WSR justify their prices, If i were the commercial manager, luckily i'm not, , but if i were, i would only run the fish and chip special in the evening, and not over the whole line, only as far as Watchet, with a break so people can explore Watchet in the evening, whilst the train runs ECS TO the nearest looop where the engine can run round, crew have a break etc, take water, the cream tea i would run as an add on to an afternoon service, using the QB coaches, pre book, or turn up and offer it as an add on, if its not fully booked, and possibly make it one way dining, return in the rest of the rake, to free up the dining cars for people who want to have a cream tea from the other end, so two bites at the same cherry, Minehead to BL, and also offer it BL -Minehead,
The cheese and wine special, i would run in the place of a fish supper, acouple of times, with the same working timetable,

 

Hang on Martin, let's not just completely pile on. The current offering was saying sold out on the WSR website, so clearly they are doing something right, and at an apparently attractive price point. We do, after all, want the railway to make money - right?

My suggestion was just more modest: if people are prepared already to pay £42.50 for a somewhat long and gluttonous ticket, could you actually get a greater yield by running two services? Changing the times of those (for example, moving F&C to an evening train) is a different question: clearly there is a train-load of people willing to eat F&C at lunchtime, so why change? My query is that if people pay £42.50 for both, could you find two separate groups to pay, say, £25 for each separately for a half-line journey? If so you get a greater revenue per seat mile for no additional operating expense.

On pricing: you can justify any price that fills a train! I'd suggest the WSR's price for what they are offering looks low rather than high (but to me at least also an unattractive offering: I'd be more inclined to pay £25 for a half-line journey and half the food than I would £42.50 to have more food than I can realistically eat in one go).

Tom

 

What something costs to produce is irrelevant when it comes to setting the selling price, which is determined by what people are prepared to pay. However, in this case, I would expect that people are not prepared to pay as much for a simple cold meal as they are for a simple hot meal, although the difference is not as much as you make out, as you will be paying at least £3:50 for the cider, which leaves £4:50 for the bread and cheese, expensive for what is essentially a cheese roll, but not particularly so. One expects on-board catering to cost more.